Northwind Climate, a proprietary platform that provides data-driven marketing insights for the climate economy, has officially announced its launch to help companies and organizations better understand how climate concerns impact consumer purchasing decision. To understand the significance of such a development, though, we must try and acknowledge how companies’ climate actions are actually untapped corporate assets that, if communicated effectively, can provide a unique competitive advantage across industries. Hence, as a way of empowering consumer-facing companies, climate companies, tech companies, along with investors, North Climate brings forth data and actionable insights that one would need once they try to effectively communicate their climate actions. You see, the company’s data platform is well-equipped in the context of providing insights about how consumers view climate-friendly products and services, what motivates them to support companies efforts in this space, and profiles of who these consumers are, as well as how to reach them. Making Northwind Climate’s arrival all the more important is how the company has already conducted four national surveys covering more than 12,000 people for a baseline understanding of where the American public stands on consumers products and services as it relates to climate and sustainability. As for the findings, they revealed that consumers of all generations are willing to make purchasing decisions based on climate and environmental considerations. This inclination has been found to be especially true for consumers across the political spectrum. You see, those who are willing to pay a little more for things they know are produced sustainably include 69% of Democrats, 43% of Republicans, and 55% of Independents or unaffiliated voters.
Next up, Northwind’s survey informed us on the fact that consumers don’t feel like they have enough information to make climate-friendly decisions, and therefore, they want companies to help them do so. Here, you have 74% respondents believing “it’s often difficult to know which products are environmentally friendly.” On the other hand, 76% said “I would like companies to help me as a consumer to be more environmentally friendly,” Breaking down the stated group a little more, it includes 70% men, 69% of those who had an income worth <$30,000 annually, and 68% rural residents. Apart from that, it also had 64% of hunters/sportsmen, 58% of conservatives, and 58% of Trump voters.
“The choices the American buying public makes will play a large role in whether we meet our climate goals over the next few decades,” said Doug Rubin, founder and CEO of Northwind Climate. “Our research powerfully shows that consumers want companies to do more to address their climate concerns, want more information from them and will reward corporate bottom-lines if they do so.”
Beyond the study in question, Northwind Climate has pledged to conduct a survey each month with tailored polling and message testing on different industries, such as travel, personal finance, food and more. If you are a subscriber, you can access the platform through monthly reports, an ever-growing database, dataset exploration, and using the ability to create customized reports for better understanding consumer motivations. Markedly enough, a factor which separates the company’s research is its proprietary consumer segmentation model. You see, Northwind has divided American consumers into five distinct groups, which can be applied to any customer or client list. By doing so, it basically allows companies to identify specific consumers as well as the messages that resonate with them the most. As a result of that, the model is able to be dramatically better predictor of consumer behavior around climate than demographics or political measures alone. For the future, though, Northwind’s plan includes introducing surveys that cover B2B products, services, and regional research etc.
“How you talk about climate matters a great deal to different consumer segments,” Rubin said. “Companies need to do a better job of marketing to consumers in a way that is real and important to them – Northwind Climate helps companies tap and expand markets, strengthen their brand and ultimately accelerate the adoption of climate solutions.”
